Abraham Lincoln statue on Carthage College?s campus.
Carthage has been named a Voter Friendly Campus for the 2021-22 academic year.
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Carthage was recently named a “Voter Friendly Campus” by the Voter Friendly Campus initiative. This initiative, led by national organizations such as the Campus Vote Project and the Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, awarded Carthage this title during the Voter Friendly Campus’s third iteration of the program for the 2021-22 period.

The mission of the “Voter Friendly Campus” designation is to bolster efforts that help students overcome barriers when participating in the voting process. Carthage was evaluated based on a plan outlining how the College would register, educate, and turnout student voters in 2020; how voter engagement efforts were facilitated on campus; and a final analysis of efforts — all during the upheaval caused by a global pandemic.

Being an official “Voter Friendly Campus” means that Carthage identified its goals for future voting procedures; included students, faculty, administrators, and election partners in the process; and emphasized how it would encourage voter registration, voter education, voter turnout, and students as voter advocates.

Carthage’s efforts in ramping up voter turnout for the 2020 presidential election included:

  • creating a webpage with information on how and where to register to vote, how to find your polling location, how to request an absentee ballot, the acceptable forms of IDs, and how to find information about the candidates.
  • sharing important election information in The Bridge and on social media.
  • providing transportation to and from the polling location for residential students. 
  • printing acceptable voter IDs for residential students without acceptable Wisconsin IDs. 

Carthage has made a strong statement about the civic mission of higher education to prepare students to be active participants in our democracy and is excited to continue engaging students through elections in 2021, 2022, and beyond.

Visit the Election Information webpage for information on the Wisconsin Spring Election on April 6.